CHARLES MARTIN IN

UGANDA: WHAT TO DO WHEN

A MANGER GOES NATIVE
Student ID# I2014422166
Name: Atif Rao Muhammad
Submitted to : Xiaoping Xu

Q.1: Describe Ugandan Cultural Attributes that might affect the

operations of a foreign company doing business there ?

Republic of Uganda is a country in East Africa having a

population of about 35 million people. Uganda economy
largely depends upon agro based economic activities.
Although it has substantial natural resources but the
country is unable to extract them due to lack of
infrastructure and human resource. Uganda is one of the
poor country of the world and almost 40% of the
population lives below the poverty line (i.e. 1.25$ a day)
The following attributes may effect the operations of a
foreign company doing business in Uganda.

Language Barrier:
Although the official language in the Uganda is
English however a very few a able to communicate in
English. This is largely due to the fact that Uganda is a multi
ethnic country and people belongs to different group prefer
to speak the language representing their own clan.
Risk:
Since most of the people cannot speak English therefore it is
very difficult for foreign company to communicate with
locals properly which sometime may adversely effect their
business.

Regional and Domestic Political Instability:

Uganda has largely been effect by the political instability
both domestically and regionally (i.e.war Congo, Rwanda
and Sudan caused a huge burden on Ugandas economy in
shape of refugees ).
Risk
The political instability both domestically and regionally
negatively effect the operation of foreign firms as they are
not certain about the future outcome of the their business.
Nepotism/Corruption:
Uganda is considered as one of the most corrupt country
in the world. Therefore it is very difficult for any
business enterprise to perform their operations smoothly
without any impediments.

Religious Diversity:
Uganda is a multi religion country therefore for foreign
firms it is imperative to respect the religious believes and
practices of each religion.
Risk:
Any unintentional practice which hurt the believes of the
people may negatively effect the operation of the firm.
Less Regulations:
Foreign companies that want to do business in Uganda
arent heavily regulated.
Opportunity:
Little or less level of regulation usually encourage
business activities and lead to expands business.

Q.2 : how would you describe respective attitudes of Martin and Green:
ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric? What factors do you suspect of
having influenced their respective attitudes?

According to the details given in the case study, Charles Martin

attitude towards work is polycentric because his working style
involves organization culture and norms, home and host country
requirements, capacity and restrictions. This type of approach is
quite successful in foreign firms it reduces the risks of failure of
the firms operation moreover it leads to innovations in
management style for foreign firms .

Whereas James Green approach is ethnocentric

because he ignores the cultural factors abroad/host
country. Although he perceive environmental
differences yet he stick of achieving home country goals
instead of host country or global objectives.

Q.3:
Who was right, Green or Martin, about Martins more
controversial actions in facilitating the project? How things might have
turned out if Martin had not been a member of the project team?

Both Martin and Green seems right from their stand point.
For Green he was more concerned about the image of HG.
Although the Martin actions were right within the legal
framework of Uganda but such practices were considered
unlawful in USA. Therefore he was more concerned about
the long term image/business of his organization.
Martin seems to be right as he was dealing with the
operations of the project. His main focus was to get the job
done within stipulated time. Therefore all his practices
which may look unfair yet within the legal framework
of the Uganda's law were to make the project successful.

If Martin was not in the project then it

may lead to increase the cost of the
project as any step taken to build the
project, without having any knowledge of
political and social system of the country,
may lead to unrest among the public
which further cause problem for the
operations of the firm.
Since Martin has an in depth knowledge
of the African culture therefore he
handled all the issue quite efficiently
although it may look ungainly from the
point of view of Green

Q.4: In the next phase of the project running the power plant - should HG

employ someone whose main function is that of liaison between its

corporate culture and the culture of its host country? If so, is Martin the
right person for the job?

Since this is a very huge project and firm has to operate for
a very long time period it is imperative for HG to hire a
person who is either a local person or someone who has
strong understanding of Uganda's political and social norms.
However HG must give a clear guidelines regarding its
corporate policy and ethical norms to managers working
outside USA.
I think Martin is a right person for the job since he is well
adjusted to the system therefore any experiment may cause
some problem to HG operations. However higher officials
of HG may set some standards guideline regarding the
operations in Uganda or any other foreign country.